X-ray images using films have been widely used at medical sites. However, since the X-ray images based on use of films are analog image information, digital-mode radiation detection apparatuses, such as computed radiography (computed radiography, CR), a flat panel X-ray detection apparatus (flat panel detector, FPD), or the like have been developed in recent years.
In FPDs, a scintillator panel is used in order to convert radiation ray into visible light. The scintillator panel includes an X-ray fluorescent such as cesium iodide (CsI). According to applied X-rays, the X-ray fluorescent emits visible light and the emitted light is converted into electrical signals by TFTs (thin film transistors) or CCDs (charge-coupled devices), so that X-ray information is converted into digital image information. However, the FPD has a problem of low S/N ratio. This results from, among other causes, the scattering of visible light due to the X-ray fluorescent itself when the fluorescent emits light. In order to lessen the effect of the scattering of light, methods in which a fluorescent is filled in cells partitioned by partition walls have been proposed (Patent Documents 1 to 4).
As a related-art method for forming such partition walls, a method in which a silicon wafer is etched is known. However, in this method, the size of scintillator panels that can be formed is limited by the size of the silicon wafers, and a scintillator panel as large in size as 500 mm square cannot be obtained. On another hand, a technology in which, using a glass powder-containing paste, a scintillator panel is produced by highly accurately forming, in a large area, barrier rib whose main component is a low softening point glass containing 2 to 20 mass % of an alkali metal oxide (Patent Document 4).